in today's Observer re homebirth

[groovygranny]

Have you seen this ? Observer article subheaded "Before pushing for more home births, the Health Secretary should wait to see how safe they are"

This is just the sort of bunk that the Independent Midwives Association could be responding to and potentially registering a complaint. I hope they do. I'm going to forward it to my IM.

I wonder if they're one of those 'powerful lobbying groups' the author refers to. In fact and possibly unbeknownst to her, IMs are fighting for their professional lives at the minute, partially thanks to sort of silly logic presented in this piece which influences people's thinking in a negative way.

Disappointing and tedious stuff. Interesting though, how both the Observer and the Guardian have trotted out unresearched "opinion" in the light of this govt move. Why would they rather attack women and midwives rather than discuss the political reasons for these (errm...) political decisions? I wonder what's going on here - are we looking at a backlash after all those years of attacking working mothers (remember the endless "research" on how much any form of childcare makes your child a psycho), by now calling us all wannabe earth mothers instead?

I was bloody irritated, PLANNED homebirth is statistically AS SAFE as hospital birth ffs.

There's no fking WAITING needed to see how safe they are, the evidence is already around

"wait to see how safe they are" Snort!!

planned HB in a normal pregnancy is statistically safer than a hospital birth with less infections, higher APGAR scores amongst other stuff Ic an't remember.

Oh god I don't think I can even bring myself to read the article, I'm sure it'll just make me cross. I did A LOT of homework before my homebirth and it was at least a hundred times better (for me, baby, dh, ds and, I hope, the midwives and my doula) than my hosp birth.

"by 2009, all pregnant women would be able to choose a home birth" Am I missing something? I thought all women were (theoretically) already allowed to choose a homebirth?

I was not offered. I am not very assertive and when I asked my GP how he rated my chances of a homebirth he said 'nil'. Luckily a nice midwife sensed that my bursting into tears at my next appt was a clue that all was not well She told me that there are lots of homebirths in my area and the rest followed nicely.

Not only did my GP not make me aware home births were supposed to be an option (I brought it up) she went out of her way to vociferously get it across how "dangerous they are." Meanwhile, the practice my GP works in has just lost its community midwife who has left the NHS to become an IM and - you guessed it - spend much of her time delivering women at home.

I was offered a homebirth in 2005 in Scotland.

I politely declined as I wanted an epidural and a all the medical expertise thats available.

I'm not against homebirths at all and I believe every woman should have the choice.

However, here's a very scary story, a very close friend of mine had a very easy delivery with her first and thus opted for a homebirth the second time round and both of them very nearly died (baby had cord round neck, she then had to push him out very very quickly and sustained a very nasty tear which didn't stop bleeding. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital they thought they were loosing her.) Although she has always been (almost militant) pro homebirth she is now advises every woman against it as it nearly cost her and her ds life.

Although, this might be a rare situation but it does show that there are risks.

Yes, there are risks.
And there are many risks attached to hospital births, too. Women have to make an informed choice based on real information - which is why is article is insidious.

Against my better judgement I read this.

She hasn't a clue what she is talking about - she doesn't seem to have done any research and so it reads more like the sort of thing you'd read on the letters page of the Metro, or a pissed man down the pub spouting his unasked-for opinions. Very depressing to think that this passes for journalism these days.

Rochwen I really appreciate what you're saying. I was really nervous about a home birth too, and no one is going to pretend they're aren't risks involved. But I have had friends who felt like although they were in hospital they were virtually going it alone, receiving nothing like the one on one attention you would get at home. I ended up having to go in - and having a crash c-section in the end when teh baby got distressed. The point is, the midwife managed the risks and got me in when she felt it was time. I am still not convinced today that hte situation which subsequently developed at the hospital did not have something to do with the care I received - for a start, the epidural was put in wrong twice (then the same doctor was waiting for me in the theatre to put me under! Scary or what!)It was total pandemonium in the end, and then the baby had an apgar score of 9 immediately after birth. Could the belt have slipped? Who knows?

Sadly, I just don't think that being in the hospital insulates people from risk...The IMs numbers of successful home births seem to support this.